


We Run with the Wolves

by Drenched



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Corporate Espionage, F/F, Gen, Lesbian Katara, Republic City, ecoterrorism, republic city era au, the gaang are ecoterrorists, we love her folks, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26746552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drenched/pseuds/Drenched
Summary: "We want to use you to gather intelligence on Ozai's activities," Sokka explains. "That way we can figure out a surefire way to take him down.""Something that would either end his political career or implicate him enough that the Fire Nation government would have no choice but to depose him," Suki says."Only if you want to," Aang adds hastily. "It could be dangerous."Aris' mouth opens, maybe to object, but Song cuts across her. "I'll do it," she says, looking at Katara. Putting her life in danger in the hopes of getting to hang out with a pretty girl? Maybe the queerest thing Song has done to date.***In which the Gaang are ecoterrorists
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara/Song (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	We Run with the Wolves

**Author's Note:**

> Mob AU for the ATLA wlw week free day! okay so in my head this is takes place in the sort of republic city era, so sozin didn't start any war but Aang is still the Avatar sixty or seventy years later during the reign of Fire Lord ozai, no I don't have any idea of how the avatar cycle manages that but if I think of one I'll let you know!
> 
> I have not watched korra so this republic city will absolutely not be in line with the one in the show, I'm taking drastic liberties folks.
> 
> the warnings and characters and tags might change later (we will see Zuko and Azula I promise!)
> 
> come talk to be about it on tumblr (https://atleasttheresthis.tumblr.com/)

Katara crouches on the roof of the building, staying low to avoid any wandering eyes and keeping her gaze on the empty roof of the building opposite. Below her, Republic City races forward with a creaking, groaning, slugging, but this high up there is an almost silence, an insulation. She fingers the embroidery on her waterskin, its browns and blues the only thing standing out against her entirely black outfit.

She knows, without having to check, that Sokka and Suki are occupying the same positions that she is on the North and South corners of the roof, while Aang holds himself on the edge facing the street, peering over onto the front entrance, waiting. Toph sits quietly near Katara, also dressed in her mission darks except for her hands and feet, both of which are pressed against the building's metal roof. With her metal bending, she'll feel if anyone joins them long before the others notice.

Suddenly, Aang whistles from his position over the door. Four pairs of eyes meet each other, and Toph grins. The group converges, crawling on all fours, on the building's lone skylight. Unhooking a tool from his belt, Sokka carefully removes the bolts around the frame holding the skylight window in place and gently moves it to the ground. "Wow, is that a new multitool?" Aang admires, just a bit too loudly for their circumstances. Unable to help himself, Sokka pulls the tool out again and holds it under Aang's nose. "Yeah, I added a few new things, look!"

"Didn't we just have a talk about Appropriate Mission Behavior?" Suki mutters, unpacking a length of rope from her bag. Katara catches her look and rolls her eyes, helping her tie a series of notes around a grate embedded in the roof.

"Hey, I'm the ideas and inventions guy," Sokka quips, peeking into the skylight before tossing the rope over the window's edge. "Yeah, and I'm the positive attitude guy," Aang adds happily. 

"And the Avatar," Sokka reminds him. "Yeah, and the Avatar guy!" Aang corrects.

"And Suki's the sneaky sneaky guy. We stay in our lanes," Sokka finishes.

"And what am I?" Katara says, crossing her arms over her chest. "The wet blanket," Sokka says drily. Katara whacks him on the shoulder. "Hey, no friendly fire," Aang jokes. "Are we going in or what?" Katara asks snootily.

Sokka nods and moves toward the rope. "Uh, uh. Not a chance, handsome," Suki says, shoving past him. "Ladies first," Sokka gallantly hands her the rope.

Suki gives them a salute, then starts climbing down into the building, moving more quietly than Sokka or Katara could hope to match.

"I'm not the wet blanket," Katara mutters to herself while they wait for Suki's signal. "Yes you are, Sugar Queen!" Toph whisper-calls over to her.

Katara bends a small block of ice at her that hits Toph square in the face. "Hah, hah," Sokka taunts.

"No fair, I can't see as well on metal," Toph protests. 

"Then get better at metal bending," Katara counters, and the roof under her pokes upward to bite her in the ass. 

"Ow! Toph," Katara seethes, while Toph snickers, bending the metal back the way it was.

"If we could avoid major structural damage," Sokka starts, but then the rope under his hands gives three sharp tugs. "Coast is clear, let's go Katara," he orders.

"Oh, don't you start being the responsible one all of a sudden," Katara snipes, climbing into the window and lowering herself on the rope, hand over hand.

"Someone has to keep us on mission," Sokka reminds her from above. "Does that make you the wet blanket, then," Katara asks. "No, you're the defending champ," Sokka retorts. "I could never take the title away from you."

She swipes at him again, fingernails mostly useless against his pants. "Katara, cut it out!" She snickers but remains silent, focusing up as they move further down into the building.

Katara and Sokka hit the floor, Sokka tugging on the rope twice. As Aang pulls the rope up and out of the building, Suki leads the way through the office space, having cased the place with Toph two days earlier. 

They follow Suki two floors down and into a supply closet. "Guard comes by every twenty minutes," she breathes, shutting the door behind her. The three of them keep as still as possible as they hear the footsteps go by the door. After they stop, Sokka makes to open the door but Suki catches his arm, shaking her head. Two minutes later, they hear the stairwell door shut, only then does Suki nod and let them out.

Passing by office door after office door, Sokka stops in front of one. "Zhao Izo," Sokka reads, fiddling in his pocket. Pulling out the key Toph had copied from the janitor, Sokka quietly clicks the door open. Katara follows him inside, while Suki stays by the door.

Planting himself on the floor by the filing cabinet, Sokka pulls two lockpicks, another gift from Toph, out of his pack and sets to work. "Why didn't you pick the office door, too?" Katara asks idly, methodically sorting through the desk to see if there's anything of interest.

"Takes too long," Sokka answers off-hand. He frowns, sticking his tongue between his teeth. "We couldn't bring her with us," he starts.

"Carpeted floors," Katara realizes, looking at her feet.

Sokka nods. "Exactly. Aha!" Grinning in satisfaction, he pulls open the drawer and quickly runs his fingers through the files.

"Who exactly is this guy again?" Katara asks, looking over his shoulder. "Zhao, government official and project manager for Fire Lord Ozai," Sokka answers. "Currently spearheading Project Moonlight--"

"The drilling for oil in the Northern Water Tribe," Katara finishes for him. "Damn, what an asshole."

"Could you let me finish my sentences once in a while?" Sokka says, almost with his entire head in the filing drawer. Katara sticks her tongue out at him, even though he can't see. "I know stuff, too," she scoffs, rustling around in the desk drawer. Her fingers find a false bottom, and she removes it, taking out a file with the label inked out. Opening, she squints at the first paper. It looks like a random string of nonsense.

"Can you make sense of this?" she says, tugging lightly on Sokka's ponytail and holding the file in front of his eyes. "Hm..it's in code. Here, switch with me," he says, standing up and moving to the desk chair. "I have a copy of the code they used in the documents we stole from Princess Azula's office, I bet it's the same." He takes a small piece of paper from his backpack, along with two sheets of black paper and pencil, and sets to work, while Katara kneels in front of the filing cabinet.

"You're looking for Project Moonlight," Sokka reminds her. "I _know_ ," Katara rolls her eyes, fishing through the files. "Found it!" she says triumphantly, before joining Sokka at the desk and copying the important information over onto her own blank paper. "This will really help Pakku," Katara says happily, scribbling as fast as she can. "Oh,  _ oh! _ Drill plans!"she practically sings, tapping Sokka on the shoulder to show him her find. "Nice," Sokka says appreciatively, stopping to scan the paper quickly. "The weaknesses are here, here, and here, make sure you write them down."

"Have you got the code?" Katara asks, starring the areas Sokka pointed out in her sketch.

"Yeah. Here, listen: Line 4, car No. 21452, 8th and Kyoshi Ave. Line 6, car No. 45643, 12th and Peechtree St.," he reads off. 

"Peechtree St. is one of Ozai's mob drop off points," Katara says, finishing the sketch and packing away the paper and putting the file back into the drawer. "He must be working with Ozai to transport something. Should we give it to the police?"

Sokka blows a raspberry. "Hell if I know. We'll talk it over with the others later. I'm through with this, let's go." Together, they quickly replace everything, leaving the desk exactly as they found it, and meet Suki outside.

"Guard's on the other side of the building," she informs them, before leading them back to the stairwell. "Find anything good?"

"Oh, yeah," Sokka confirms, smirking. "Tell you later." The three of them climb the stairs, retracing their steps until they're under the top floor skylight once again. Katara sends a small chunk of ice flying through the skylight, letting it drop to the roof outside it. A few moments after her signal, the rope appears, hitting the floor with a low thump. Katara climbs up the rope first, with Sokka right behind her and Suki bringing up the rear. Katara sticks her head through the skylight and accepts Aang's outstretched arm.

"How'd it go?" Toph asks, as Katara settles herself on the roof. "Get anything good?"

"We got drill plans  _ and _ a transport schedule," Sokka says happily, falling to the floor with an  _ oof.  _

"Nice," Toph whistles. "Now hurry up with that window."

Aang turns toward the moon and agrees. "Toph's right. It's getting late, and we have a meeting to go to."

***

"What is it?" Song asks, eyes on the paper her mother holds in her trembling hands. It's late, long past the time when both women should be in bed, but Song had stayed out late with some friends from the hospital after their shift. When she came home, she found her mother clutching a letter in their kitchen.

"It's a marriage proposal," Aris says in a quiet, even voice. 

"A marriage proposal?" Song repeats, skepticism under her tone.

"A marriage proposal. From Fire Lord Ozai."

Shock hits Song square in the face, terror dribbling in shortly after. "M-me?" she gasps in disbelief. "The Fire Lord wants to marry--"

"Not from him," Aris says quickly. "Not him. On behalf of his elder child, Zuko."

Dizzying relief. Song staggers over to their kitchen chair, all but falls into it. "Thank spirits."

"Don't be so sure, this isn't much better." Her mother brandishes the letter like a knife. "You wouldn't have to share his bed, but you'd be a prisoner in the palace."

"A hostage," Song says slowly, brain coming back online. "From you.  _ Because  _ of you."

"To keep me in line," Aris agrees, mouth thinning. 

"Why?" Song asks, and at first her tone is disbelieving, but then slow calculations begin to add up in her head and she lets her gaze turn accusatory. "I thought you were keeping the trade business out of the fire?"

Aris hangs her head. "I contacted some of the Freedom Fighters. To see if I could give them supplies."

Song throws up a hand, a wild gesture she quickly aborts. "That," she says slowly, "was fucking stupid,  _ Mother _ ."

"Don't get catty," Aris retorts. 

"I'm  _ right _ ," Song insists. 

"Of course you are, but you don't get to take that tone with me."

Song relents, begrudgingly. "Sorry." A pause. "What made you do it?"

Aris exhales. It's a long, slow thing, and it seems to fill the room. "I had confirmation that he's the one who ordered your father killed."

Anger rocks into Song, holding her tongue hostage. When she speaks again, her tone bends with rage. "I'm going to kill him," she vows. "I am. I'm going to kill him."

"He might have you killed before you even get the chance," Aris goes over to Song, takes her by the wrists. "This whole marriage might be a charade, I don't-" she breaks off, frustrated. "I don't  _ know _ ."

"It doesn't make sense to kill me immediately," Song says, after a moment. "That's his whole power over you gone."

Aris digests this, nods. "You're right. He won't, it doesn't," she takes a deep breath. "You're right." 

"But I still have to go there and be married to his son," Song says, and against her wishes her eyes fill with tears. "I have to leave my whole life behind."

"I'm sorry, my girl," Aris says, eyes sorrowful as she takes her into her arms.

Song cries in earnest. This has spelt the end of her life, the end of her whole world. Both she and her mother know that her wish to kill Fire Lord Ozai is an empty threat, she's untrained and he's supposedly the strongest Fire Bender in the world. She can't kill him, she'll have to live out the rest of her days living in the house and fucking the son of the man who killed her father. Song is almost physically sick.

"There might be hope," her mother says cautiously. "I tried--"

She breaks off with a shout as something rocks the floor of the house underneath them. There is a great shaking of the earth, a slam, and then a muffled shout. "These fucking wooden floors," a voice says from under the the house, and Aris gasps.

"Here, Katara, help me cut through the wood."

"You came!" Aris says, and then she is on her knees, pulling at the floorboards, uprooting them with the help of whoever is tunneling into their house.

Song remains in the chair, absolutely bewildered, before cautiously kneeling beside her mother, ripping apart the wooden beams. Once she and her mother and whoever's on the other side have cleared a big enough hole, Aris animatedly pulls them up and into their house, and suddenly Song is looking at the most beautiful woman she has ever seen, maybe even the most beautiful woman in the whole world. 

The woman is clearly from one of the Water Tribes, her dark brown skin and light blue eyes attest to that. Her hair is long and glossy, tied back in a low ponytail. Her eyes are the sort of blue Song imagines the cold waters at the poles must look like. Her figure is perfect, lithe and strong and powerful. Song might just be in love.

She stares openly at the woman while other faceless, formless people follow her out of the hole in the ground. Song spares half a thought for these strangers, even less than a glance. How could she possibly look anywhere else? 

When the woman's eyes meet hers, Song all but jumps, gaze plummeting to the floor. She gets ahold of herself, raises her eyes, and sees the woman staring at her with interest. A blush erupts across her cheeks, and the woman smiles invitingly. Well, shit.

"Katara," the boy next to her hits her lightly on the shoulder. "Can you pay attention?" He looks at Song and rolls his eyes. "Come on, Katara, we're here for a reason."

Song crosses her arms over her chest, anger edging out at this boy's derision for her. It's then that her brain regains its place behind her eyes and she starts assessing the situation herself.

There are four, no, five people in her home, aside from her and her mother. All of them are wearing identical black clothing, (the kind of clothing you might wear to break into someone's home, Song's brain supplies. And it looks really,  _ really _ good on Katara  _ (Katara) _ , she answers.)

All of them are wearing identical clothes that you would wear to break into someone's house, but her mother isn't afraid, she's welcoming them. "Thank you, thank you, I didn't know if you would come!" she says gratefully. Song has never seen her act this way around anyone, never express this kind of gratitude.

"Of course we came, we want to help," a boy with airbender's tattoos says. He holds out a hand, which Song stares at, bewildered, before taking it and being helped to her feet. "You're giving us a unique opportunity," one of the other people says. Song turns to see a shorter girl with silvery eyes. She must be blind, Song realizes, suspicion confirmed as the boy who chastised Katara grabs at the girl's arm and helps her over the floorboards.

The others keep talking, but Song stays silent and turns her eyes on her mother. Once she catches her gaze, Aris says, "I invited them. They can help us, they're working against Ozai, too."

Song looks over them again, takes in their black clothes and their less than usual entrance, and groans. "They're another terrorist organization, aren't they?"

"Ecoterrorist, actually!" the airbender corrects helpfully.

Song ignores him completely. "Mom, are you serious? You didn't learn your lesson with the last terrorist group?"

"We don't have any other choice, Song," Aris reminds her. "It's either them or I lose you to Ozai, and I cannot let that happen. Not again."

"Your mother told us about Ozai's proposal. We won't let it happen," Katara speaks up. "We'll find a way to stop this."

"How many of you are there?" Song asks, suspicious. The blind girl gestures around the room. "This is it."

"What?" Aris asks. "No. No, there have to be more of you," she says, sounding desperate, and when they shake their heads Aris lets out a breath, clearly horrified.

"You children don't understand," she says, looking out into the middle distance. "You cannot do this alone. On top of being Fire Lord, Ozai runs with the mob. He practically  _ is _ the mob."

"We know," the third girl says. "And we can do it alone."

"Yeah," the older boy interrupts. "We have the Avatar." He points to the airbender.

Aris and her Song both suck in a breath. "You're the Avatar?" Song mumbles.

The Avatar waves. "I'm Aang!"

Song mechanically waves back. "My name is Katara," the beautiful woman says. "This is my brother Sokka, and our friends, Toph and Suki. All of us are highly trained, we're working against Ozai for his crimes against the environment."

"We met at the Northern Water Tribe," Aang adds helpfully. "Katara and I worked with the same Waterbending master."

"And why aren't you there now?" Song asks, harsh skepticism hanging thick on her words. Aris shoots her a look, and she shrugs. She knows she should be grateful to these people, they say they can help her, but can this rag-tag group of friends really take out the most powerful man in the world?

"We went underground after we tried to stop Ozai from drilling for oil by the Northern Water Tribe," Katara explains. "After the attempt on Aang's life, we couldn't work out in the open."

"I had heard about that," Aris says, nodding. It's Song's turn to give Aris a look. Why didn't you tell me?

Her mother rolls her eyes. I don't have to tell you everything, do I?

Song acquiesces. "Still, even with the Avatar," she begins.

The blind girl, Toph, interrupts her. "We took out the Fire Nation refinery on Dragon Scale Island," she brags proudly. 

Song's impressed, but she narrows her eyes. "I've wondered about that. How did you prevent the people from losing their jobs?"

"The factory wasn't staffed by anyone from the Island," Katara answers, and any previous interest in Song doesn't stop her from looking down her nose at this. "Ozai brought in his military to work there so he wouldn't have to sign more paychecks."

Song nods. "I had wondered about that," she explains, and when Katara smiles at her again she's momentarily struck dumb. "Don't worry. We do our research, we know what we're doing."

Fuck, this woman is so,  _ so  _ beautiful. Song has no idea what to do now, but luckily, the man Katara called Sokka takes over.

"We want to use you to gather intelligence on Ozai's activities," he explains. "That way we can figure out a surefire way to take him down."

"Something that would either end his political career or implicate him enough that the Fire Nation government would have no choice but to depose him," Suki says.

"Only if you want to," Aang adds hastily. "It could be dangerous."

Aris' mouth opens, maybe to object, but Song cuts across her. "I'll do it," she says, looking at Katara. Putting her life in danger in the hopes of getting to hang out with a pretty girl? Maybe the queerest thing Song has done to date.

Katara gives her a smile, and Song sees stars. Definitely worth it.

"Whoo whoo!" Toph whoops, throwing her hands in the air. "Let's get this party started!"

Katara rolls her eyes.


End file.
